EU high-speed rail audit: findings and later progress

What the audit found

The audit reviewed more than 5,000 kilometres of high-speed rail in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria. It covered about half of the EU network and examined €23.7 billion of EU co-funding since 2000 ¹.

The ECA found that national governments planned and built lines with limited cross-border coordination. It concluded that the target of tripling the network to 30,000 kilometres by 2030 was unlikely to be met ¹.

Audited lines cost an average of €25 million per kilometre. Trains used an average of 45 percent of the lines' design speed, and four of ten lines cost more than €100 million for each minute of journey time saved ¹.

The official response

The European Commission's replies appear in the audit report. It accepted recommendations on long-term planning, cross-border assessment, co-funding conditions and measures to improve rail access and competition ¹.

The Commission did not accept every premise. It stressed that member states decide which lines to build and that EU powers over national construction choices were limited ¹.

Parliament

The ECA presented the report to the European Parliament's transport and budgetary-control committees and to the Council. Its 2018 activity report says both institutions endorsed the audit conclusions ².

The audit informed scrutiny of the trans-European transport network and EU co-funding. It did not itself authorise, cancel or redesign a national rail line ^1,2.

Follow-up audits and recommendations

A 2020 ECA audit of eight large cross-border transport projects found major delays, cost increases and limited Commission tools. Several audited projects included high-speed or mixed rail links ³.

The ECA's January 2026 update found further delays and a higher combined cost for the megaprojects. It reported that the 2030 core-network deadline would not be met for several projects ⁴.

The 2026 report found that a revised TEN-T regulation adopted in 2024 gave the Commission stronger oversight provisions for future work. It said those changes would have limited effect on projects already far advanced ⁴.

Courts, tribunals and investigations

No court judgment deciding the ECA's 2018 network findings was identified in the official sources reviewed. Decisions on funding, permits and construction remain distributed across EU and national bodies ^1,4.

The audit reports assess planning, spending and delivery. They do not make a criminal finding against a member state, rail operator or contractor ^1,3.

Where it stands now

The 2026 follow-up reports that the EU core transport network will not be completed by the 2030 deadline. Further delays affected all selected projects for which updated timing estimates were available ⁴.

The governance framework is stronger under the 2024 TEN-T regulation, but the ECA recorded continued delivery risk and uneven use of existing Commission powers. The case remains under follow-up ⁴.

Timeline